Russian Space vehicles from the Spiral project - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105 & BOR

Predecessor of Shuttle and Buran The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105 was a manned test vehicle to explore low-speed handling and landing. It was a visible result of a Soviet project to create an orbital spaceplane. BOR [Becpilotniye Orbitalniye Raketoplan] The BOR-4 flight vehicle is the scaled (1:2) copy of the SPIRAL. It has a tilting wing as well as the SPIRAL. Missions: 1980 Dec. 5 - The model BOR-4c, conducted its first suborbital flight in the direction of Lake Balkhash, on top of the K65M-RB5 (Kosmos-3) rocket to test a vehicle for future orbital missions. 1982 June 4 - A BOR-4 No. 404, was launched into orbit and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. It was announced under name Kosmos-1374. 1983 March 16 - A BOR-4 No. 403, was launched into orbit and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. It was announced under name Kosmos-1445. The recovery of the spacecraft by the Soviet Navy vessel was observed and photographed by a crew of an Australian military plane. The pictures of the top-secret recovery operation were then published around the world, prompting the secrecy-conscious Soviet authorities to re-schedule future missions to conclude in the Black Sea. 1983 Dec. 27 - A BOR-4 No. 405, a model of the Spiral space plane was launched into orbit and splashed down in the Black Sea instead of the Indian Ocean to maintain secrecy around the project. It was announced as Kosmos-1517. 1984 December 19 - A BOR-4 went orbital but splashed down into the Black Sea to the west of the Crimea peninsula. It’s name was Kosmos-1614 Russian anthem sung by the State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Felix Korobov, and joint choir of the Bolshoi Theatre and the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre. [Source ] Link : Link : Link : Link : Link : Link : Link :